The strategy then would be to officially rule out the Taliban’s “return to power” at least on the central government level while ceding much of the nation to them. In return the groups gaining control over the regions would stop fighting against the central government and the ongoing NATO occupation.

What’s curious is that this strategy of focusing on al-Qaeda while trimming back expectations that it will ever be able to defeat the Taliban is essentially the “Biden Option,” which President Obama publicly ruled out just yesterday. It seems that the president is having a hard time making up his mind on exactly which escalation to go with, and is just bouncing back and forth between them.